Second-year students from Singapore Polytechnic's Diploma in Media and Communication (DMC)

WHY:

Lecturer Clarice Sim, 32, told The New Paper that the survey is part of the students' project for their Mass Media Research module, where students learn the fundamental processes in conducting research and analysing research findings.

Ms Sim, who oversaw the survey, said: "As a polytechnic, we advocate hands-on learning so this module equips students with relevant skills for prospective employment."

HOW:

According to Ms Sim, 104 DMC students were broken up into 20 groups, with five or six in each group.

Each student was to conduct street interviews with about eight people aged between 15 and 35. In the end, a total of 816 people were interviewed.

Miss Elizabeth Foo, 20, who spent six months working on her project for the module, said the most challenging part of the survey was picking out people to interview.

"The most difficult age group to pick out from the crowd is the 30 to 35 range," she said.

"(Once), we approached a lady for an interview, but it turned out she wasn't even 30 yet. She definitely didn't look happy."

REACTIONS:

While some of the key findings were expected, Ms Sim said she was surprised that privacy was such a huge factor.

"I think privacy is the main motivator for many youths, especially among male respondents, because they like to keep their shopping habits private," she said.

On males spending more than women, Miss Foo said: "For us girls, we will just jump at the idea of sales and buy things in large quantities at a lower price.

"But the men will tend to spend more because they buy things like games and electronic gadgets, which are more expensive" .